the law of the instument

«I suppose its tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail», Abraham Maslow, 1966
This is a series of photographic still lifes, images of simple objects found in the artists house. They are colorful and seductive, but at the same time a bit hard to read.
What do we see? Hammer that floats? A jack hovering in empty space?
The shapes are clear and simple, but there are also detailed tactile textures.
Should we understand the images, or just feel them?
Bentdal hopes to makes think about how we think. The content and the titles of the images gives room for both analytical and intuitive reactions.
The subject matter Jo Bentdal aims to explore is the notion that human beings as a species has a powerful tool that has ensured our dominance on the planet: our analytical brain (a large neocortex). A tool that has been instrumental in the development of our culture and technology that ensures our comfort as well as our proliferation as a species. The fact that our genes, like all genes, are selfish - has led us to think of our own species as something extraordinary. Our success utilizing our evolutionary merit, our analytical capabilities, has made us view the analytical part of the brain as the best tool for almost all purposes. Our preferred tool, homo sapiens´ "mazlovian hammer» is our ability to make tools - to develop sosial structures and technology. But even human analytical capacity is limited, and other species have other merits. A synergy is essential. In our time,
the viability of this synergy is determined by us.
Maybe the time has come to stop considering our main strength as something unconditionally positive for the big picture, but at the same time hope it can also be used to limit our negative impact on life on earth?
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